THE 

INDIAN  HILL 

INDIANS 


y 


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THE 

INDIAN   HILL 

INDIANS 

Father  Pierre  Francois  Pinet,  of  the 

Society  of  Jesus  and  his  Mission  of  the 

(guardian  zAngel,  1 696-1 699 


THE  MIAMI  VILLAGE 


CHICAGO 
1920 


The 
Indian  Hill  Indians 

S  EARLY  as  1696,  the  land 
on  which  the  Indian  Hill 
Club  is  located,  was  the  site 
of  a  village  of  the  Miami 
Tribe  of  the  Algonquin  Confederation. 
The  Algonquins  were  dispersed  by 
the  great  Iroquois  invasion  of  1680,  but 
the  Miamis,  who  were  only  lukewarm 
in  their  allegiance  to  the  Confedera- 
tion, stayed  in  the  Illinois  country, 
while  the  other  Tribes  were  driven 
west  of  the  Mississippi  River.  The 
greater  part  of  the  Miamis  afterward 
settled  in  Indiana.  The  few  remaining 
around  the  Chicago  Portage  were  later 
exterminated  by  the  Sacs  and  Foxes, 
the  Kickapoos  and  the  Pottawattomies, 
who  came  down  from  Green  Bay  and 
from  Michigan. 

The  Miamis  were  the  Indians  that 
the  French  Explorers  and  Missionaries 

[3] 


The  Indian  Hill  Indians 

found  around  Chicago;  the  Pottawat- 
tomies  were  here  in  the  early  part  of 
the  nineteenth  century  when  the 
Americans  came. 


Father  Pierre  Francois  Pinet,  of 

the  Society  of  Jesus  and  his  Mission  of 

the  Guardian  Angel,  1696-1699 

On  September  14,  1698,  Saint 
Cosme,  Montigny,  Davion,  Vincennes 
and  Tonty  left  Mackinac  for  the 
Illinois  country  in  eight  birch  canoes. 
They  paddled  along  the  Western  shore 
of  Lake  Michigan,  intending  to  cross 
the  Chicago  Portage  into  the  Des 
Plaines  and  thence  down  the  Illinois 
River.  Saint  Cosme  says:  "We  were 
pressed  by  the  season"  On  October  7, 
1698,  they  reached  what  is  now  Mil- 
waukee, and  on  Odtober  8th,  Racine, 
where  Vincennes  left  them.  Here  they 
were  detained  by  bad  weather  and  did 
not  proceed  until  Odtober  1 9th. 

[4] 


Mission  of  the  Guardian  Angel 

Saint  Cosme  wrote:  "We  cabined  on 
the  20th,  five  leagues  from  Chicaqw. 
*  *  *  We  had  considerable  difficulty 
in  getting  ashore  and  saving  our  canoes. 
We  had  to  throw  everything  into  the 
water.  *  *  *  We  went  by  land,  M.  de 
Montigny,  Davion  and  myself,  to  the 
house  of  the  Reverend  Jesuit  Fathers, 
our  people  staying  with  the  baggage. 
We  found  there  Reverend  Father  Pinet 
and  Reverend  Father  Buinateau.  *  *  * 
Their  house  is  built  on  the  bank  of  a 
small  lake,  having  a  lake  on  one  side  and 
a  large  fine  prairie  on  the  other.  The 
Indian  village  is  of  over  one  hundred 
and  fifty  cabins,  and  one  league  on  the 
river  there  is  another  village  almost  as 
large.  They  are  both  of  the  Miamis." 

Saint  Cosme  grieved  that  the  work 
of  the  Missionaries  was  barren  of 
results.  "Little  fruit  is  produced/'  he 
writes,  "in  those  who  have  grown  up 
and  hardened  in  debauchery,"  but  he 
consoles  himself  that  "the  children  are 
baptised,  and  even  the  medicine  men, 

[5] 


The  Indian  Hill  Indians 

most  opposed  to  Christianity,  allow 
their  children  to  be  baptised.  They  are 
even  very  glad  to  have  them  instructed, 
so  that  it  may  be  hoped  that  when  the 
old  stock  dies  off  there  will  be  a  new 
Christian  people!, 

This  letter  is  interesting  both  as  a 
human  document  and  because  it  per- 
mits the  location  of  Father  Pinet's 
Mission  to  be  pretty  accurately  con- 
jectured. 

Saint  Cosme  and  his  companions 
landed  on  the  Lake  Shore  fifteen  miles 
north  of  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago 
River.  They  went  by  land  to  the 
Mission.  The  house,  he  says,  was  on 
the  bank  of  a  small  lake,  having  a  lake 
on  one  side  and  a  large,  fine  prairie  on 
the  other.  It  has  been  pointed  out  that 
the  small  lake  was  probably  the  Skokie, 
which  was  then  and  for  many  years 
afterwards  a  body  of  water  of  consider- 
able size.  Saint  Cosme  says,  in  addition, 
that  one  league  on  the  river  there  was 
another  Miami  village  almost  as  large 

[6] 


Mission  of  the  Guardian  Angel 

as  the  one  in  which  Father  Pinet  had 
his  church.  It  is  well  known  that  there 
was  a  village  on  the  north  branch  of 
the  Chicago  River,  near  where  it  joins 
the  Skokie. 

From  the  foregoing,  Frank  R. 
Grover,  in  a  paper  read  before  the 
Chicago  Historical  Society,  locates 
Father  Pinet's  Mission  on  the  sand  ridge 
near  what  is  now  the  south  end  of  the 
grounds  of  the  Indian  Hill  Club. 
While  the  location  of  the  Mission  at 
this  place  has  been  disputed,  there  is 
no  doubt  that  there  was  an  Indian  vil- 
lage here.  The  difference  of  opinion 
about  the  location  of  the  Mission  is 
due  to  the  facl  that  there  were  two 
Miami  villages.  Saint  Cosrne  speaks  of 
the  other  as  being  on  a  river,  a  league 
distant  from  the  one  where  Father 
Pinet  had  his  Mission.  It  is  just  as 
reasonable  for  us  to  claim  Father  Pinet 
as  the  patron  saint  of  the  Indian  Hill 
Club  as  to  concede  him  to  Glen  View. 
Indeed,  the  probabilities  are  that  his 

[7] 


The  Indian  Hill  Indians 

Mission  was  in  the  village  which  un- 
doubtedly was  located  on  the  Club 
grounds. 

The  Mission,  which  was  called  the 
Mission  of  the  Guardian  Angel,  was 
in  existence  in  1696,  when  Saint 
Cosme  visited  it.  It  was  broken  up  the 
following  year,  according  to  Jesuit 
writers,  through  Frontenac's  hostility, 
and  was  afterwards  re-established.  It 
was  probably  abandoned  in  1699  or 
1700. 

The  Miami  Village 

The  Miami  Village,  as  reported  by 
Saint  Cosme,  consisted  of  over  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  "cabins. "  These  were 
along  a  trail  which  followed  the  sum- 
mit of  the  sand  ridge.  This  trail  began 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago  River  and 
extended  to  Green  Bay.  It  was  after- 
wards the  line  of  communication  of 
the  early  settlers  between  the  Chicago 
Portage  and  Green  Bay,  and  finally 
became  the  Green  Bay  Road. 


The  Miami  Village 

This  Miami  village  was  probably 
the  usual  straggling  group  of  Indian 
lodges.  It  extended  from  where  the 
entrance  to  the  Kenilworth  Sanitarium 
now  is,  as  far  north  as  the  present 
village  hall.  The  knoll  where  the 
tenth  tee  is  was  a  lookout  station.  This 
spot  is  marked  "Indian  Hill"  on  some 
of  the  old  maps.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  an  Indian  village  was  on  the 
Club's  property.  During  the  construc- 
tion work  on  the  course,  conclusive 
evidence  of  this  was  discovered.  Num- 
bers of  arrow  and  spear  heads,  scrapers 
and  stone  hammers  were  found. 

The  quantities  of  rejected  and  un-, 
finished  implements  and  the  debris  of 
manufacture  are  particularly  significant. 
This  indicates  a  certain  permanence  of 
residence.  Finished  and  perfect  imple- 
ments are  more  commonly  met  with 
on  hunting  fields  or  battle  grounds. 

Wherever  the  sod  has  been  turned 
along  the  ridge,  stone  flakes  have  been 
found.  Those  chips  are  as  charafteris- 

[9] 


The  Indian  Hill  Indians 

tic  of  the  Indian  workman  as  shavings 
and  sawdust  are  of  a  carpenter,  and 
accumulations  of  them  point  unmis- 
takably to  the  existence  of  a  village 
where  primitive  industry  was  carried 
on.  Curiously,  the  area  where  the 
evidence  of  Indian  work  appears, 
coincides  almost  exactly  with  the  loca- 
tion of  the  Miami  village  from  historical 
sources. 

The  specimens  in  this  case  were  all 
found  on  the  Club's  property  during 
construction  work. 

The  larger  implements  are  hammer 
stones  and  axes. 

Below  them  are  grouped  arrow  and 
lance  heads  and  parts  of  finished  points. 

The  implements  in  the  middle  of 
the  case  are  scrapers  and  chisels. 

The  remainder  are  imperfed:  or  un- 
finished implements  and  pieces  rejedled 
during  fabrication. 


[10] 


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